M&C takes five minutes with Steve Nuttall, managing director of Joule’s, about his business priorities for the next year, why Jeremy Corbyn should take the Liverpool to Euston train and the problem with Generation Y
What’s your main business priority for the coming 12 months?
Beer, beer and more beer. With the recent appointment of Master Brewer Neil Bain working with Head Brewer (also a master brewer) Mark Leedham, we are expecting to go from very good beer to really great beer at some speed. The brew house has yet another quarter of a million going into it this year, including a project to scope some small scale on site bottling on the cards, expect some new craft cold beers to join Green Monkey alongside our core cask ales. Sales of 10,000 barrels per annum is the key goal within two years.
What is the best marketing campaign you have seen this year?
I will go with MPA ‘refreshing sounds’, it’s great to see an old school brewer making some waves and showing the craft beardy types a thing or two on how it’s done, I am in love with the brand anyway since the manc dance stunt in Covent garden so in my case I guess preaching to the converted. There is something great for the small guy being ambitious in marketing.
Where did you have your best meal this year?
Honestly, the New Inn Newport but as it’s a Joules pub I will plump for Rowley’s on Jermyn Street about as simple as a format can be and there in is the brilliance of it, it could only be bettered if they had beer on draught. They have Doom Bar in bottles so maybe those nice guys at Molson Coors could manage to get some Cornish Lager on draught?
Which business in the sector provided the best experience?
If I can pick any sector, then Virgin’s Liverpool service to Euston, the Liverpool train has the best staff by a country mile, someone is doing the job right with that team they have a culture going that works and it’s been like that for years now. It helps that the service is reliable these days. l hope Jeremy Corbyn takes that train sometime soon, it might change his mind.
What is your main concern for the sector?
I worry that generation X-Z are too insular and don’t seem to be very sociable in a broad way – with a community not just their own pals. My expectation is that pubs will remain relevant, different of course, but that sharing space and enjoying the convivial warmth and buzz odd a pub is not only something I love, but it’s what we offer. If they don’t then the pub stock will inevitable have to reduce still further which is a worry for retailers and brewers.
Which other business (any sector) would you most like to run and why?
I continue to have a latent ambition to not only run a vineyard but to make the wine. We got quite close in 2008 and offered on a small vineyard in Fronsac, that came close but no cigar. I fell in love with the romance of wine making, not unlike brewing but the French with their passion for terroir, the many nuances and the history make a seductive package where success is in the eye of the beholder. The dream lives on.
